Review by Morpheus Kitami for Anthrax - Among the Living (1987)

Anthrax is to me, the proto-pizza thrash band, something I tend to associate with competent at best thrash bands with lyrics mostly about TMNT, violence and Rick and Morty-level humor. This is both unfair and fair. Anthrax is like, one of the two thrash bands I can think of off-hand who have written songs about actual books. Any humor on this album is subtle enough that I didn't really notice it, and certainly not truly awful.
On the other hand, it's hard not to argue that Anthrax, if not the originator of the trend of thrash bands being merely competent at their chosen instruments, certainly proved it to be a winning formula to many. A vaguely punk ethos, lacking the aggression of someone like Slayer or Kreator, the technicality of Coroner or Doom. But unlike the endless knock-offs, who's failures more or less live or die on their merits as thrash bands, Anthrax has had something of a connection to speed metal, albeit one that makes the band feel like they don't quite fit in anywhere. Before the clan challenge, I would have dismissed Anthrax on this, and more or less continued on. I still more or less feel that way about their first two albums.
Something about Among the Living actually works despite this. I guess that makes Anthrax the soul of thrash metal, something that's far more than the sum of it's parts. (or if you prefer something more concrete, chemistry between band members) Individually, each musician brings nothing really interesting about the album. For instance, the drums should bring the album down, being that sort of annoying drumming that would really drag down an album, the kind with the most basic skills. Yet, here it works.
Despite their reputation, both overall and to me, I think Anthrax did something worth listening to. Discounting the soul argument, songs like the title track and Imitation of Life are genuinely nice. Even if you're not the spiritually 14 audience this was designed to attract, it's worth giving it a few spins despite that, you may find yourself pleasantly surprised like I was.